MARSHALL LORE
Every week we get further into the rugby season, the more fearful I’m becoming that a major TMO controversy will decide a showpiece match.
The advent of video technology has improved major professional sport; the question has always been how intrusive it should be.
Rugby has a chance to get it right with the television match official. It doesn’t right now – and that’s proven just about every weekend of Super Rugby. That’s acknowledged by the move announced recently by the IRB to review expanding the TMO’S powers. A trial to allow the TMO to rule on incidents within the field of play that led to the scoring of a try, and foul play, will begin in the northern hemisphere in November and in New Zealand next February.
A big catalyst for the calls for changes came after Wales beat Ireland in the 2011 Six Nations with a clearly illegal try awarded to Mike Phillips. The role the TMO should play also came under scrutiny last year when Jimmy Cowan was correctly denied a try in the All Blacks’ loss to the Springboks in South Africa due to a forward pass.
The All Blacks had every reason to blow up big-time over the decision.
The referee had asked the TMO to rule on the forward pass when he wasn’t actually allowed to.
He was only permitted to rule on the act of scoring. But the fact the incident didn’t spark major and lengthy controversy is instructive. That was mainly because fair-minded spectators knew the last pass to Cowan had been forward and the right result was achieved.
This goes to the heart of how to get the TMO’S powers right. I am completely against him having the right to go back any further than one phase of play. Rugby league has this wrong. They will go right back to the play-the-ball and dummy half pass, even if it was 99 metres at the other end of the field. Likewise, if rugby’s TMO is given the power to go too far back in analysing a movement leading to a try, we’re going to make a rod for our backs.
How far is too far? It has to be clear cut like the Cowan decision. The last pass is sufficient. Likewise, the last three or four metres of a winger’s sideline dancing run. Going back to the phase before the try to see if the halfback knocked on the ball or not is going too far.
If the TMO starts looking at breakdowns, the last two or three tackles before a final tackle and other nuances well before the act of scoring, it’s not going to work. There’s too much at stake to get it wrong.
The Sharks-stormers match at the weekend illustrates my point. The TMO was called upon to look at a Sharks’ try to Lwazi Mvovo. But instead of looking at the grounding, which was OK but needed checking, he only ruled on whether the winger had stepped into touch three or four strides earlier. Later, the Stormers were awarded a try off a blatantly forward pass.
That’s the level of confusion we currently have. We need to get it right.
The match against the Bulls was always going to be a red-letter night for the Chiefs forwards.
I’ve liked so much about the Chiefs this year, but until last Friday night I’d been struggling to suppress a worry that their forward pack might lack the mongrel needed to win big matches.
No longer. Lads, you’ve won me over.
Not only did the Chiefs get parity with the bruising Bulls pack, they actually took them on physically and wore them down. That convinced me that the Chiefs now have a pack that can compete with the best and that they are legitimate title contender. The July clash in Christchurch between the Chiefs and the Crusaders packs is positively mouth-watering.
The Highlanders are becoming a ruthless and efficient team. Yes, the Blues were better than they have been on Saturday night, but the final scoreline flattered them. The Highlanders were always in control of the match.
This is a good team that knows what it has to do and methodically goes about its work. It should give Highlanders fans plenty of confidence ahead of the coming weekend’s highly anticipated southern derby against the Crusaders.